Monday, July 19, 2010

silver lining perhaps?

the mama texican alerted me to a latimes blog post that states the mayor of l.a., antonio villaraigosa, was in a bicycle accident.

from the article:

The mayor was riding in the bicycle lane on Venice Boulevard in Mid-City at about 6:50 p.m. when a taxi abruptly pulled in front of him. The mayor hit his brakes and fell off the bike.

He was transported to Ronald Reagan/UCLA Medical Center, where he was treated for [his] broken [elbow].

By 10 p.m. he had been released and was resting comfortably at Getty House, the mayor's official residence.

The mayor's accident comes as bicyclists in the city have increasingly been complaining about safety issues and pressing city officials to do more to make cycling safe.

now i hate to speculate on the unfortunate events of another, BUT, i wonder if this will bring about change to bicycling infrastructure in los angeles? one can only hope that if it would, if it can soften the blow literally brought upon the mayor.

do any of our los angeles readers have any insight as to what is going on down there?

6 comments:

thx mamitexican. always on top of things. im sure that will first be a 'see bicycles are so dangerous' but let's hope that the media doesnt drive this beyond means and LA moves forward with bici infrastructure. there are *many* people that are the change, the movement and it only takes a few.plus, i dont get it - why wanting to be stuck in a car when LA's weather always rocks!?i hearts LA. i no hearts the traffic mess.xo.m

This will happen when they Paint Lines in the Road and call it Infrastructure,you will always get Cars driving on and Parking on them. The only time Politicians improve anything is when they have an Accident because of their own bad Infrastructure.

Perhaps now he will consider putting in the same Infrastructure they have in the Netherlands ,do it right and put in Dedicated Cycle Lanes.

I hope Mr Mayor gets well soon and have a good think as to why he had the Accident in the first place.

Put in the Infrastructure,this probably will mean narrowing the Road and bringing in 30KM 19Mph Limits in Towns and Cities and also Banning Parking as well as those Separated Cycleways.

It goes without saying that I am very sorry to hear that this person has been in an accident.

But having said this, I am very glad that the journalist put a "we need to make things better for cyclists" spin on it, rather than a "cycling is a dangerous activity" spin. I do think that this is a silver lining.

From the comments posted to the L.A. Times story, the mayor's crash and injury has been taken by some as beneficial, as a means of alerting the mayor first-hand to the difficulties of riding here, but others see it in a more prosaic sense, that bicyclists shouldn't be on the roads, etc. Whatever the case, I have the impression that Villaraigosa's visit to Copenhagen during the climate conference brought an increased appreciation of the role bicycles could play our city's planning, and we're seeing very small changes that reflect that. Sharrows were laid down recently in a few areas, a better bicycle plan was rolled out (but nowhere near approval), and relations with the police have improved under the new chief. There is, perhaps, some cause for optimism. Of course, one has to temper that with caution. Richard Riordan, mayor from 1993 to 2001, was a huge bicycle enthusiast, even hosting regular rides in the city. From what I recall, however, he brought little new infrastructure to the streets.